MUDD student projects

exhibits

2005-2006 Top Ryde

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Masterplan

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Elevation showing Civic & Retail Precinct

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Elevation showing Civic Precinct

Overview

The Top Ryde Town Centre is anything but top. It has an aged shopping centre which has grown poorly from the 1960s. It works an inner metropolitan bus hub with some civic facilities, a poor image urban domain but fine views over the Parramatta River.
This master plan team explored the linking of the retail centre with the western civic centre to give relevance and improve connection to the area. Retail facilities were planned with a fine grain of lanes, arcades and a focal square. The civic centre was given new architectural expression and set in a composition with housing, youth centre and a library to give it relevance and form. In this master plan, infill developments were proposed that sought to build on the existing heritage precinct and create a network of public spaces. Blaxland Street was envisaged as an upgraded street with some medium density housing fronting the main park.

Goals and Objectives

Reinforce the identity of Top Ryde as a major sub-regional centre through the development of the civic centre precinct.
Redevelop the Top Ryde shopping precinct and provide a physical framework for community interaction in the form of new urban spaces and an external market/town square.
Reinforce the character of heritage precinct by opening up vistas& creating active street frontages.
Provide a pedestrian movement framework reinforced by sager pedestrian environments, created through traffic calming along Blaxland Road and Church Street.
Encourage new mixed use developments with permeable urban fabrics, where pedestrian links connect the shopping centre to the rest of the precinct, through a series of public and semi-public open spaces.
Enforce building design excellence. Use tax incentives and design controls to promote the development of Blaxland Road as the main street linking Ryde Park through to the civic precinct.
Encourage the use of ESD principles in public and private development, with particular attention to sustainable water management and landscaping.